by N. Heller
There was a work desk behind Wang Sisi, and a dead middle age man was lying flat on it. There was a large bloody hole near his throat, and the stretch was coming from that dead body. Under the high temperature, the dead body was already quite badly decomposed, yet that fear that was plastered on his face was still ever so clear.
At this moment, Luther’s “eagle eyes” came in handy. He scanned the room, and gasped, “Xiao Jiu, Marcie, there is a nametag on that dead body. His name is Wang Zhiwei.”
Marcie felt a shiver down her spine and gave a quick glance at Lin Sanjiu as she thought of something. Her conjecture was proven the very next second.
“Do you know my dad?” Wang Sisi’s massive eyes rolled around in her black shrunken sockets and almost looked as if they were about to fall out.
“You absorbed your dad—” Before she could finish her sentence, Marcie covered her mouth, as if she was unable to hold back her nausea. She swallowed the remaining words in her sentence with her digestive juice.
Lin Sanjiu quickly understood why Wang Sisi looked a little more hydrated than the security guard. This was because she had consumed the bodily fluid from a person!
“I understand now. Who saw you when you suddenly attacked your father? Was it the manager? She must have been shocked, so she took the opportunity and locked you in this room, right? The door was too well-built, so there was no way a little corpse like you could get out,” Lin Sanjiu said calmly even though all her muscles tensed up preparing for her next action. “When we came here, you heard our voice, so you thought of this method to trick us… I really can’t tell that your dried, shriveled brain can still function so well.”
As Wang Sisi was smaller, her mouthpart was also shorter. Lin Sanjiu was already prepared, so she rolled over to Luther’s side and dodged the first attack. Without even pausing for a second, the girl swung her mouthpart toward the two of them, creating a sharp sound as it cut through the air.
Luther used his kitchen knife to block the blow hurriedly. With the sound of a clash, the mouthpart was blocked for an instant, but his knife flew out of his hands and landed far away from them. At this moment, they were now both empty handed.
Noting that the situation was bad, Marcie rushed forward with her extended half-meter long nails. She aimed directly for Wang Sisi’s eyeballs; however, that mouthpart was really too agile. It recoiled back like a snake, and launched a counterattack, totally destroying Marcie’s attack.
Wang Sisi made two cl.i.c.k.i.n.g sound. It was a pity that her attack landed on that person in front of her, the nasty tasting one. Without waiting for Marcie to look clearly, the mouthpart made a buzz again and once again headed toward Lin Sanjiu.
This time round, Lin Sanjiu did not try to dodge and faced the attack directly. Just when the mouthpart was about to touch her throat, she suddenly grabbed onto the sharp end of the mouthpart. She mustered her energy and pushed the mouthpart a slight distance away from her.
The layers of skin of Wang Sisi face gathered together in that instant, she seemed happy as she said, ”HAHA! Idiot. I can draw blood from your hand too!”
Luther and Marcie were shocked. Just as they rushed forward to help, there was a flash of white light. At the very next instant, they heard a sharp screech from Wang Sisi who was shaking her head violently, struggling. Her screech was so loud that items nearly fall off the shelves from the reverberation. A kitchen knife had suddenly appeared out of nowhere and was now embedded in her thorn-like appendage which was originally covered in a sticky fluid. Furthermore, the handle of the knife was in Lin Sanjiu’s grip.
Hearing Wang Sisi’s screech, Lin Sanjiu smiled viciously as she held onto the knife handle firmly with both her hands. In this manner, she had managed to secure control over that most dangerous mouthpart. As she held on tightly, she yelled to the other two people, ”Luther, kick her back into the room! Marcie, close and lock the door!”
Everything happened at lightning speed. Even though Wang Sisi heard their plan, it was already too late. A dark shadow flew toward her, and a kick landed heavily on her c.h.e.s.t—a crackling sound filled the air, almost as if Luther had shattered her ribcage. Lin Sanjiu timed her action well, releasing her grip. The knife which was still stuck on the girl’s mouthpart flew backward with the girl who landed far back into the room. Marcie who was standing to the side was long prepared, she rushed forward at that moment and grabbed the door handle.
Marcie froze for a moment, but she quickly cursed back in a low voice, “Damn you! I am not your auntie!” She locked the door even before she finished her sentence. The bunch of the key was still hanging from the door. Two turns of the key ensured that the door was once again safely locked.
It was only at this point that Lin Sanjiu finally took a deep breath. She could no longer support her body as she slipped weakly to the ground. With a “gu dong” sound, Luther also lay beside her; with a face of total exhaustion.
Wang Sisi continued with her wailing. Sometimes, she was acting like a pitiful sobbing girl. Sometimes, she targeted Marcie and continued begging and making promises. When that did not work, she shouted furiously with her ear-piercing voice. But no matter how she screamed or rammed the door, the three of them outside acted like they couldn’t hear her.
“What should we do?” Luther grimaced as he grabbed a few towels and threw them toward Lin Sanjiu and Marcie. “Does this mean that we will have to settle down here with this duoluozhong?”
Lin Sanjiu could feel her heart pounding. She wiped the blood off her wounded bleeding palm. Then, she finally sighed and said, “Let’s find a few shelves to block off this door… Where else can we stay, other than this place?”
Marcie nodded her head and agreed: “We almost fainted under the heat when we went upstairs to look for the keys…” When she thought of this, she continued sadly, “These duoluozhongs retained their intellect, so how can they bear to attack their loved ones?”
Unfortunately, no one could answer her question.
The three of them drank some water and somewhat rested. Next, they worked together and blocked the staff door entrance with a few shelves and sealed off the door tightly. Each of the shelves was extremely heavy; they even left the useless items on those shelves. This made it even less possible for Wang Sisi, who could not knock down the door, to ever come out.
After they had finished their task, Lin Sanjiu was extremely tired. It had only been five to six hours since she had woken up from the heat in the middle of the night. Yet, her whole world had totally changed. She had never gotten into a fight before, but now she was not above killing a person...
They had already pulled down the metal shutter at the entrance of the supermarket and locked it with the key from the dead manager. The sunlight outside was so strong that it could kill, but inside the supermarket, the darkness allowed for their survival. The three of them slept shoulder to shoulder on a towel, listening to that not-too-distant sharp, helpless wails from Wang Sisi. Gradually, the things around her got blurry, and the noise faded… Lin Sanjiu fell asleep just like that.
Chapter 13 - Yet Another Posthuman
Just as if someone had added water to her memories and made some porridge with them, her memories were like a cloudy broth. She could only remember herself lying asleep in her own bed as it gradually became warmer and warmer. She became more and more thirsty… Suddenly, she felt a gentle concern from the man beside her. She grabbed his hand and whispered, “I’m thirsty...”
She suddenly opened her eyes. For a split second, Lin Sanjiu thought that she saw that snow white face again. She exhaled and propped herself up. She shook her head and looked at the surroundings around her with that faint bit of light.
The fancy supermarket, where she occasionally went to get some imported snacks to try, was now dead. It was dark, quiet, and in a mess.
A skinny white caucasian woman had buried her face in her own thick red hair and was sleeping soundly. The fair, handsome young man that was lying beside Marcie opened hi
s eyes a little when he heard Lin Sanjiu’s movements.
“You’re awake?” Luther, who had just awoken, asked indistinctively. He looked at the clock that hung on the supermarket wall. “Oh! It is already past 6 pm.”
Marcie was woken up by both their voices. She rubbed her eyes tiredly and sat up.
“No wonder I feel hungry…” Lin Sanjiu could hear the sound of her digestive juice from her stomach. She drank a mouthful of water and muttered, “That little, dried corpse is finally quiet.” Indeed, the area where the staff room was had became quiet. The shelves were still blocking the door, and it was as if there had never been a Wang Sisi. Luther replied, “I will bring some food over.” With this, he got up, dragged his feet and yawn a few times as he walked to the food section. He came back with a few vacuum-packed food like duck feets and chicken drumsticks
After they had woken up, they found that the previously tense, uneasy atmosphere before they slept was almost gone. The three of them sat relaxingly in a circle, eating and chatting at the same time.
“I’d say, you don’t look like someone who has been on a battlefield,” Lin Sanjiu made fun of Luther lightheartedly; she managed to find a packet of her favorite butter cookies.
Hearing this, Marcie snorted, “Don’t bring this up. When we joined the army, I had to train every day. He had it good. Using his ability to transform, he lived quite comfortably…”
“Really, tell me about it!” Lin Sanjiu laughed and continued asking.
He heard the two of them gossiping, but Luther’s mouth was stuffed with food so he simply could not explain himself. He anxiously gulped down a few mouthfuls of water hoping to swallow the food down and nearly choked himself… Suddenly, the rare sounds of laughter rang out in the supermarket. The few of them laughed and joked, and for a moment it seemed like the New World was not that scary after all.
The three of them slept in the morning with that screaming in the background, so they were already accustomed to her existence. They did not even stop to blink but continued eating calmly. Surrounding by the ear-piercing background noise made by Wang Sisi, Luther tutted, “It would be great if we could have some fried vegetables and rice!”
This reminded Lin Sanjiu, she clapped her hands together suddenly, “Aren’t we going to my apartment to search for Ren Nan’s corpse? There is a gas stove in the apartment, it should still work. Let’s bring some rice over. I’m not sure if we are able to fried vegetables but making some pork porridge shouldn’t be a problem.”
Once she made that suggestion, the two others started to salivate. Luther was the first one to jump up. He pulled Marcie along with him enthusiastically, running around the supermarket. They gathered all the ingredients within a few minutes: Thai rice, mineral water, and vacuum-packed meat...
Disappointingly, they were unable to find a single torchlight in the entire supermarket. The three of them had to compromise by each carrying a lighter for illumination.
After they had rested for a few hours, they figured that it should already be totally dark outside. They carried their items and left the supermarket. Just to be prepared, they even locked the shutters before they left. They climbed up the escalator and found that the sun had already gone down. The hall on the first floor was pitch-dark and without a sign of life.
Unexpectedly, due to the shopping mall’s unique structure, the heat from the sun was locked within the building. Without the usual cool air from the air-conditioners, the entire first-floor hall was now like a large high-temperature steamer.
The uncomfortable heat was extremely invasive. The three of them were covered in sweat within seconds. Adding to that was the faint stench from the heap of dead bodies which were exposed to the heat. Lin Sanjiu rushed out of the shopping mall not wanting to stay on the first floor a second longer, only then did she felt a light breeze on her skin.
They had to think of a method to get rid of the dead bodies quickly.
The long queue of cars, which Luther and herself traversed through in the morning, was still in front of the shopping mall. The only thing different from the morning scene was that half the cars had run out of batteries or gas, becoming silent and lifeless. Occasionally, they saw a few cars with running engines, still struggling on the brink.
Lin Sanjiu led the group and routed past the road. She did not take a single look into any of the cars—she had seen enough dead people. The residential district that she once lived in with Ren Nan was not far from the shopping mall. They took over ten minutes and finally reached the bottom floor of that 38-floor c.o.n.d.o.minium.
Ever since the heat wave came with everyone unprepared, 70% to 80% of the entire human population had been wiped out within a day. Consequently, the overloaded power grid was never repaired. Right now, the three of them had to depend on their legs to climb up the flight of stairs up to the 38th floor.
Being the only male, Luther had no choice but to step up and carry the heavier items like the rice and the bottles of water. He followed behind the two ladies, panting as he climbed up the stairs.
Even though they were so-called “Posthumans”, climbing up 25 floors of stairs was still a little unbearable for them. With her normal, unenhanced physique, Sanjiu was the first one to sit down on the steps. She kept waving her hands saying, “I can’t go on, I can’t go on. Let’s take a rest… Let me catch my breath and drink some water.”
Marcie scanned the surrounding cautiously with the lighter in her hand. Seeing that there was nothing unusual, she passed a bottle of juice to the two exhausted people who were sitting on the steps.
As the refreshingly sweet taste of blueberry juice flowed through his throat, Luther was about to praise the taste of the drink; suddenly, they heard a click from the door on the 26th floor, it opened...
“Is there anyone around? Hubby, is that you?” A trembling woman’s voice, filled with fear, called out. It did not even take them one second before the three of them already jumped up together, fully alert. The lesson they had learned from Wang Sisi was still vivid in their minds. At that instant, without saying anything else, Marcie demanded directly, “Stop where you are! Who are you?”
The 26th floor woman apparently didn’t expect that there were really people in the stairways and uttered a yelp. After that, still sounding nervous, she said, “I… I live here… I came out to look for my husband. Who are you?”
The three of them looked at each other. Lin Sanjiu gave it some thought and raised her voice, “I am also a resident here. Can you walk slowly to the stairs and show us your face?”
Under that orange glow, they saw a normal, clean woman’s face near the handrails of the stairs. She was about over thirty plus years old and was wearing scarlet red pajamas. Her facial features were quite elegant, but her eyes were puffy. She was also visibly terrified. When she saw Lin Sanjiu, the woman finally gave a sigh of relief, “Ah, it’s you. I’ve seen you downstairs before!”
Lin Sanjiu did not have any impression of the lady. Since she was not a duoluozhong, the three of them lowered their guard and headed upstairs.
Seeing Lin Sanjiu’s familiar face, the woman became friendly and hurriedly said, “You might not have noticed me before, but I have met you a couple of times. You go for strolls with your boyfriend frequently. He is tall and very handsome, right?” After she had said this, she looked at the only male, Luther and then at Marcie. She was evidently quite perplexed but did not ask any questions. She only introduced herself saying, ”My surname is Kong, I’m Kong Yun. Have you seen my husband?”
Lin Sanjiu almost couldn’t remember when was the last time she saw a normal, living person. She did not want to say a single word regarding Ren Nan. Just as she was about to reply, Luther suddenly quipped, “Big Sister Kong, what does your husband look like? Wasn’t he at home with you?”
These words caused Kong Yun’s tears to suddenly spill from her eyes, “Last night, we slept at the same time. But there was suddenly a blackout, and I woke up because it was hot. When I had turned to l
ook at my side, my husband was gone… only his pajamas was left on the bed. I am sure he went out, but I don’t know where he is… I didn’t dare go out in the morning…”
Probably because she had not met another living person for such a long time, it seemed as if she had the intention to pour out all her emotions, “I mean, how did the bloody weather turn so scary? I went downstairs to look for the security guards, but they were all lying on the ground. I don’t know if they were all unconscious or dead. I was so… so scared...”
Lin Sanjiu listened to her and nodded in a comforting manner. Suddenly, she felt a tugged at the corner of her shirt. She turned and found that Marcie was giving her a look.
Just as Marcie whispered in Lin Sanjiu ears, Luther stepped forward at the same time, as if he had eyes in the back of his head. He blocked the view of Marcie whispering and prevented Kong Yun for realizing that there was something weird going on.
“Our purpose here is to get to Ren Nan’s body. Don’t let her follow us. We don’t need any more trouble,” Marcie whispered.
Having a familiar face was quite certainly useful, Kong Yun immediately agreed.
“That’s right, do you need something to rehydrate yourself?” Lin Sanjiu glanced at her dried lips and reached for that remaining half bottle of juice.
“Uh, I… I... I don’t...” Kong Yun suddenly stopped mid-sentence. She fumbled with her words for a while glancing around furtively. “Uh, I meant… Thanks, I will drink a little. Thank you!”
Not only her two of her companions who have been in battlefields but even if Lin Sanjiu who had experienced two brushes with death, were extremely s.e.n.s.i.t.i.v.e—seeing that weird reaction from Kong Yun, the three of them could not help staring hard at her.